


On The Lam in Space and Time

by PumpkinDoodles



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-04 12:25:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18604495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PumpkinDoodles/pseuds/PumpkinDoodles
Summary: They're going to defeat Thanos. So what if it requires Darcy to hide out in 2011 with a baby?





	1. I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing!  
> PumpkinDoodles’s note: I don’t know why I wrote this! It’s the alternative universe Avengers: Endgame time travel adventure snippet that nobody asked for? No spoilers–this has zippo, nada, zilch to do with canon–I haven’t even seen canon yet. 

“You’re sure this is the only way?” Darcy said to Jane, looking down at the baby in her arms. He gurgled. Thor had brought him back only minutes before.

“Yes,” Jane said. “All you need to do is hide with him, okay? You can’t intersect with yourself, so go somewhere you’ve never been and stay put until I bring you back. You’ll be safe in 2011.” Jane was trying to sound calm and confident, but Darcy knew she was freaked out. Everyone was freaked out. Each of the surviving Avengers had some task to do to defeat Thanos, the scientists were all sciencing, which meant Darcy was the only person left to do a crucial bit of VIP babysitting to make it all gel. She handed the baby to Thor, who stroked his hair gently, so she could free up her arms to hug Jane. As soon as Darcy hugged her, Jane squeezed so tightly that Darcy was sure she’d crack a rib. But neither of them let go for a minute.

“Okay,” Darcy said, finally breaking and feeling the tears start. “I’ve memorized my cheat sheet. Tell him”–she looked over Jane’s shoulder at Thor– “in Allspeak to be a good baby, okay?”

“I have,” Thor said seriously. “Several times.”

“Remember to eat and wash your clothes occasionally,” Darcy said, unable to keep her voice from cracking. She blinked back tears. “And pinch Steve’s ass for me as soon as he gets back from killing the Purple People Duster, okay?” she added, trying for levity and failing utterly. They could all fail. It could not work. She could get stuck in space and time. Raising a baby. Alone. That would be some shit. She was so not prepared.

“I’ll pinch him. Twice,” Jane said. Thor grinned at them. Or at least she thought he was smiling; it was hard to see. Darcy was all snotty and trying not to rub her nose against Jane’s flannel collar. She’d never wash that damn shirt without Darcy nagging her.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yup,” Darcy said. She looped on the baby bjorn, then shouldered a bag full of diapers, 2011-compliant currency, and a Glock handgun or two. She had a waist holster under her shirt, too. As Natasha was fond of telling her, _Always Be Prepared To Shoot Someone_ was the first line of the girl spy’s guide. “Beam me up, Janey.”

“Very funny,” Jane said, starting to sob. “I’ll miss you, you idiot.” Thor placed the baby carefully in her carrier and kissed her cheek.

“Be safe,” he said. “Both of you.”

“You know I will be,” Darcy said with more confidence than she felt.

 

***

2011 Puente Antiguo was just as dusty as she remembered, Darcy thought. For some reason, they had to send her back to somewhere she’d been before? It made less of a disruption or something? Darcy didn’t get it, but she could follow instructions. And they still had the extra set of keys to the van. Which she was now stealing as her past self, Jane, Thor, and Erik ate at the diner. Snuggled against her cleavage in his fabric bundle, the baby made a happy noise. “Don’t be a perv,” she told him, unlocking the car door. “Ah, real keys, I’ve missed you, key fobs just aren’t the same,” she said, as she climbed inside and cranked the dented van. The air-conditioning, always hit or miss, rattled to life and she untied the bjorn and set the baby in the backseat floorboard. She’d get a car seat in the next town, once she’d switched cars. Natasha had taught her Steve’s borrowed cars trick, too. Besides, she doubted this baby would dent. Much. They drove off to the sounds of Beyonce on the radio. “Ohhhh, “Run the World,” maybe that’s a good omen?” Darcy said. The baby made a dismissive sound. “None of your lip,” she said out loud.

She had made it all the way out of town before any of the Destroyer stuff started and was feeling optimistic about their odds of running into their past selves. She was fine. Until she saw the SHIELD checkpoint. “Fuck, fuck,” Darcy said. “I gotta talk my way out, be quiet,” she told the baby in the backseat.

“Foster’s assistant?” the agent manning the checkpoint asked, looking at her behind aviators. She hated when they did that. There were two of them. This guy and another about twenty feet away, who looked sunburned and checked out.

“Yeah.” She was volunteering as little as possible. Still, she thought, this guy looked familiar…. _oh shit oh shit oh shit._

“I’m gonna need to search your vehicle,” he said, sounding bored. He yawned a little, but tapped her windowsill. There was a thin film of sweat on his forehead.

“Okay,” she began. He nodded as she pretended to take her seatbelt off. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Darcy said, leveling the gun from her waist holster on him, so it was visible to him but not the partner. He froze. “You’re going to let me go through this checkpoint and forget you ever saw me here, we clear?”

“I’m a federal agent,” he said calmly. “You should put that down. I don’t really care about your pot stash, kid.”

“You’re a piece of HYDRA trash, Agent Rumlow,” Darcy said coolly. “But I’m guessing that Alexander Pierce doesn’t want anybody screaming about your little new world order war games in the year of our Lord two-thousand-eleven, not when you’ve got so many irons in the fire, huh?”

“Are you with us?” he said calmly.

“As if,” she said. “Step very quietly away from this van, asshole. Maybe stop taunting other people with bullshit about choosing the wrong side, too. Or don’t, I don’t really care if you end up a splat on a different pavement segment in this timeline, I will put a bullet in you and run your ass over,” she rambled. She’d never actually shot anything more substantial than a paper man in her sessions with Nat. He stepped back and she put her foot on the accelerator. She watched him in the rearview mirror as she began to drive away at a normal pace. He was frowning behind his sunglasses. He seemed to look at his partner, then back at her. All of a sudden, he started to run. “What the hell are you doing?” she yelled. She mashed the accelerator, just as she heard a _thud._  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Darcy said. He was literally hanging on to the back of the van. The baby started to whine as he kicked at the door while he clung to one of Jane’s antennas on the roof. “Jesus God, I’m going to have to shoot a federal agent while I drive?” she yelled in frustration. “With a baby?” Just then, one of his freaking I-probably-do-parkour-with-Cap-in-the-future kicks landed just right and the door swung open. He ducked into the back of the van. Darcy, frightened she could miss with her gun, grabbed her taser and aimed. Thank Stark and Edison, she got him clearly in the chest and he slumped down, twitching.

“Goddammit,” he muttered, breathing heavily, “I’m gonna get heat stroke with this fever already, are you trying to kill me?” He was kneeling on the floorboard, pushing his hair back with his hand.

“Funny you should say that,” she snarked. Then he heard the baby start to cry in earnest.

“You’ve got a baby back here?” he said incredulously, looking around for the source of the wails. 

“Yes, so don’t make me fucking shoot you,” Darcy said. “Get out. Get out!”

“What, you want me to jump out?” he said, reaching back to shut the swinging door. “Forgive me if I’m recovering from some shit and don’t feel like it,” he said, coughing.

“Oh my God, you probably got a serum booster recently, didn’t you?” she said. He jerked his head up.

“How did you know about that? How did you know how I’m going to die?” he said, making to climb over the backseat. That was when he saw the baby in the floorboard. “Motherfucker,” he said. “Why is that baby blue?”

“He has a minor skin condition, he’s fine, don’t touch him,” Darcy said.

“Where is his car seat?” he asked.

“I didn’t have time,” she said defensively.

“When Foster sent you here from the future?” he said.

“No,” Darcy said, realizing it made 2011-Jane a target for HYDRA. “She didn’t send me. Someone else did.”

“But you know how long I’ll live?” he said.

“No,” she said.

“You do. But you don’t look any older,” he said. “Do I not make it through the next round of serums?”

“Oh, you make it through some serums, you just miss the 2016 presidential election,” she said. “It might be a win-win, all things considered.”

“Five years,” he said, sliding down into the backseat.

“Four, technically. I think? I’m bad with dates. You did make a real splash in all the newspapers when you died the second time,” she said archly, slightly pleased by his stunned expression.

“The second time?” he said.

“Oh, you were horrifically burned over eighty or ninety percent of your body and briefly dead on the table when you were Pierce’s bitch–” she said.

“You know about Pierce?” he said, astounded.

“I also know allllllll about the guy y’all keep in the basement and his pretty words,” she said.

“Words?”

“Longing, Rusted, Seventeen–” Darcy singsonged in Russian. He looked like she’d kicked him in the gut. She stopped the van. “I know all the words, so I can control the Asset,” she said. “Which is why you’re getting out of here and never mentioning me again, or he and I will cut your thread even shorter and then go get IHOP, got that?” He stared at her, slid open the van door, and then stepped out, squinting in the sun. She felt relief when he shut the door again, although tiny Loki started to wail.

“What else?” he said.

“What do you mean?” she said.

“After the burns, what else happened to me?” he said.  
  
“Oh, the serums did you a solid, so you survived. But it wasn’t pretty. Tony Stark still calls you Extra Crispy. I gather you didn’t enjoy it much, because you kinda downward spiraled and went pffffhtttt.” She made the whining sound of a balloon deflating. “So, that last year before you re-died for realsies in 2015? Not so good for you, man. You didn’t even get to go out like you planned, so on the whole, a pretty sucky time for you from here on out.”

“Three years,” he repeated dully.

“Look at your life, look at your choices, you stupid bitch!” she called out as she pulled away. Did they have that skit in 2011? She couldn’t remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All chapter titles= songs on Darcy's 2011 & earlier iPod. Ch 1.= Kevin Rudolf's one-hit wonder, "I Made It." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_7baOCYg-Q


	2. Somebody That I Used To Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing! Thanks for your comments and kudos! Y'all are amaaaaaaaazing!

Darcy ditched the van in the next town, got on a bus with the baby--carefully swaddled--and ended up in the small town she and Jane had discussed. No one would know them in Midland, TX. Plus, she’d always really loved that Susan Orlean essay about the place. It took a few weeks for them to get settled in. Darcy rented a little house on the wrong side of town, bought a used car and a car seat, hid her remaining cash in a cereal box in the kitchen, got used furniture off Craigslist and tried to decide on her long term plans. She couldn’t leave Loki in daycare yet---he hadn’t learned to extend his appearance-changing magic for more than a few hours and if he got stressed and cried, he looked like a Smurf--but she would need childcare to work.

“It’s a freaking dilemma,” she told him one afternoon, after they’d gone out for formula and some intellect-stimulating baby toys she’d decided he needed. “I didn’t count on baby formula being so expensive. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat in our time. Part of the mystique, huh?” she said to the baby in the rearview mirror at a stoplight. He gurgled and laughed. He was chubby and cute as a baby and she was finding it difficult not to buy him all the little giraffe onesies and spoil him rotten. Her ovaries were not good at long-term thinking when faced with baby stuff. “You’re doing super good at Midgardian flesh tones today, little dude,” she reassured him. “Your mama would be proud.” Frigga had apparently been the one to relinquish baby Loki to an adult Thor on trust when he popped up as a non-infant and said he needed to take Loki ASAP. Frigga was the best. “If we’re stuck here, I’m going to try to do right by her, okay? We won’t stay in Midland after you’re a few years old. That would be bad for you. I’ll look for a town with a Montessori school and a healthy percentage of climate change activists. Get you into an arts school with a drama program, maybe Spanish immersion or some soccer? You’d probably be _great_ at fencing, but I bet that costs hella money. I’ve got to figure out a long-term job situation. I wonder what the Other Darcy and Loki are doing now. I bet you’re getting in trouble and I’m bitching about my iPod. We were such innocents before the Thanos shit,” she said, pulling into her driveway. She got out and slung the shopping bag of formula cans over her shoulder along with his diaper bag, so she could pick him up. “Oof,” she said, “I didn’t count on baby-having meaning I had to pack like a Sherpa,” she told Loki. Her shoulders ached. He waved his little fingers at her nose and she grinned. “God, you’re adorable, you know that? It’s ridiculous,” she said. He babbled a little at her and she kissed his forehead. “You even have that nice baby smell,” she told him, unlocking the front door. She stepped inside, still talking to him. “I wish we could change more things, go back and undo the BiFrost fall--” she was telling Loki more seriously. That was when she realized someone was sitting in her living room.

“Hi,” the man sitting on her used couch said.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Agent Rumlow?” she said, automatically reaching for the gun at her waist. He smirked.

“Put your gun away, Lewis,” he said. He held his hands up. “I’m not here to hurt you, so don’t make me.” That was when she realized there was a stack of cash sitting on her coffee table. It wasn’t her money she knew, because it was banded differently. And was that her iPod on top of the stack?

“Excuse me?” she said. “What is that?”

“It’s a good faith payment. I want you to tell me exactly what happens before and when I die,” he said.

“So, you brought cash and my iPod?” she said.

“You need money, don’t you? And younger you just cussed me out about that damn thing,” he said. “So, put that gun down and tell me what I need to know.”

“I can’t do that,” Darcy said, trying to shift Loki and aim. She and Nat had never practiced with a baby, dammit.

“Sure you can,” he said mildly. “This isn’t personal, I just need to know. It’s making me crazy.”

“Look, I don’t know everything for sure, so you should just walk away--” she began, trying to preserve the space-time continuum and not end up with a dead body in the living room. Cops would ask questions about a dead SHIELD agent and a blue baby. But he moved faster than she did, grasping the wrist that was holding the gun and prying it from her hands. “Ahhh, ahhh, ow,” she said, as she squeezed Loki involuntarily in her fear. He started to cry and went a little blue.

“Jesus,” Rumlow said, tucking her gun away. “He goes back and forth?”

“He gets stressed,” Darcy said, trying to comfort Loki and backing up against the wall. “He needs a bottle.”

“So, get him the bottle and explain shit to me,” Rumlow said

“Look, I can’t tell you things when I wasn’t there, I only know rumors and second-hand info. And I can’t disturb time and space, so you should just take your ill-gotten gains and peace out,” Darcy said. Also, what if she told him the truth and he, like, shot Cap in 2012? Then they’d be totally fucked.

“Peace out?” he said, looking at her with an ambiguous expression. “You don’t trust me, do you?” he said, sounding upset.  Loki started to shriek at his tone.

“Shh, shh,” Darcy said. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’ll be okay, I promise,” she said, jiggling Loki. She turned a glare on Rumlow. “Of course I don’t trust you, you’re HYDRA, you moron,” she snapped. His mouth formed a tight line. “Just take that money, go live on an island. Have fun, forget about me and my blue baby, don’t participate in any future HYDRA bullshit,” she said, trying to wheedle him out of there. “That would probably cause the least disruption. You just disappear and you should be fine, I guess?” Darcy said.

“You guess?” he said, raising his eyebrows. “Whose baby is that? It’s clearly not yours. Is that an alien baby?” he asked.

“Sorta,” she admitted. “We’ve got to lay low, all right? I can’t call any attention to myself, so if that money will interest SHIELD, you need to take it with you. Just go somewhere you’ve always wanted to go--the Bahamas, Mexico, Tahiti?”

“Fine,” he said. “But the money is clean, you can spend it. I’ve got plenty.” He went to the door, then stopped and looked back at her. “This is a really bad neighborhood, you should move, it’s not safe for you and a kid,” he said.

“Seriously?” Darcy said. “You think I don’t know that?” He grimaced and nodded. Then he handed her back her gun. Once he was gone, she locked the door and wondered if she should move. It wasn’t the neighbors she was worried about.

 

***

A week later, Darcy was sitting on the living room floor with Loki after dinner, trying to see if he recognized terms with her homemade flashcards. She was trying to see how his cognitive skills were. This was especially important because he’d begun showing signs of early magic. Darcy had not anticipated that at all. How was she supposed to explain it when his mobile started spinning by itself, his bottle levitated, and her iPod music abruptly shifted from the baby-enriching Mozart download to J. Lo? She thought Frigga had taught him the blue-hiding spell, but nothing else. Now it turned out that his magic was partially natural? It was a complication she was not ready for. Also, she kept catching herself humming the _Rosemary’s Baby_ theme during his baths. Which was unintentional, but she hoped he didn’t get the inference. If he didn’t get basic cultural concepts, she should be okay. She held up her flashcards. One had a hand-drawn rainbow and the other had a crude version of Cap’s shield. “Which one is BiFrost, honey?” she asked. He giggled at her and chattered.

“Bee gee dah dah,” baby Loki said. He clapped his hands.

“Nothing?” she said. She waved her cards. “You don’t recognize these?”

“Dah dah dah,” Loki babbled. He looked around.

“Okay,” Darcy said, exhaling. “Would you like some closely supervised time in your zebra rolling thing?” she asked, moving the baby walker over. She’d picked him one with lions, a toucan, and zebra stripes. He looked delighted and started to shimmy in that direction; his crawling was so-so. “I know technically, these are controversial in 2019, but let’s live dangerously, huh? They’re perfectly legal street vehicles in 2011,” Darcy told him. She plopped his little feet into the baby walker and he shrieked with joy, wiggling. He was a rosy-pink flesh tone today, the healthiest color she’d seen so far. His moods seemed to influence his magical abilities. “Party on, Loks,” Darcy said, mock high-fiving him. “This is gonna be really cute when you have enough teeth for Cheerios. I’m taking lots of photos for Thor and Jane.” She was snapping photos when there was a heavy knock at the door. “Who could that be?” Darcy said nervously. She stood up, then looked at Loki. “Okay, I’m not leaving you out here, so you just be quiet, all right?” she said. She steered the baby walker into the nearest closet, turning on the light for him and leaving the door cracked. “Stay here,” she whispered, getting her gun. She was walking towards the door when she realized who it was.

“Lewis, it’s me,” Rumlow called out.

“Oh dear God,” she muttered. “Go away!”

“I’m here to help,” Rumlow said through the door. “I brought proof.”

“I will shoot you through this door and tell the cops it was a home invasion!” she yelled, leveling her gun.

“Lewis, you’re a political science major, do you really want to shoot a famous historical figure here to guard you and the baby?” Rumlow yelled back.

“Did you find Steve early?” she said, slightly excited. She thought he wasn’t out of the ice for a few weeks, but she could really use Steve’s presence right now, even if he was adjusting to the now of 2011.

“What?” he said. She opened the door.

“Did you find him ear--?” she began, before she caught sight of the man standing next to Rumlow in his baseball cap. Those blue eyes were soft. “Bucky?” she said. He gave her a tentative little smile.

“If we’ve met and I don’t remember you, I’m sorry,” he said shyly.

“Oh, oh,” Darcy said, feeling like someone had hit her with a two by four. “I thought you’d be Steve.”

“Steve?” Rumlow said. “Who’s Steve?”

“His Steve. They’re going to find his plane in the Arctic in a few weeks and then he goes to work for SHIELD,” she explained. “Steve Rogers.” Bucky smiled brightly.

“Punk’s gonna be okay?” he said, looking thrilled.

“Captain America?” Rumlow yelled.

“Shh, shhh, come inside, you loud idiot,” Darcy said, looking around for neighbors and pedestrians. The reality of it hit her as they all went into the living room. “Why--why did you do this?” she said to Rumlow. Bucky was gazing around the room.

“See, I’ve gone straight,” Rumlow said. “You know his words, so you’ll be safe. I freed him so he can watch you and the alien kid while I fix things so I don’t die. I can stop it.”

“Oh no, oh no,” she murmured, sinking down.

“You can’t say you don’t believe me _now._ I stole him from Pierce. I’m officially out of HYDRA forever, now that I’ve stolen him,” Rumlow said stubbornly. “No going back from this, sweetheart.” Behind them, Bucky discovered the closet door and opened it. Darcy didn’t notice because she was too busy yelling at Rumlow.

“You--you complete dumbass!” she said. “Don’t you understand time travel? I’m not supposed to disturb events. It could cause total chaos, a rift in events--I mean, haven’t you seen _Jurassic Park?_ You turned a butterfly-level problem into a freaking typhoon.”

“Jeff Goldblum’s plane thing?” Rumlow said, looking baffled. “What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”

“You--you unthawed a literal cultural dinosaur _years_ too early. He’s not supposed to blow HYDRA for another three years,” she said. “Oh my God. Oh my God.”

“In three years, I’m Extra Crispy,” Rumlow said, swallowing. They were glaring at each other.

“Duh,” Darcy said. “Corresponding events. He gets out because HYDRA tries to go public and you get cooked, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s not happening. You’re going to explain all this shit to me now and I’m going to prevent it,” Rumlow said. “All of it. I’m not dying or getting burned. Tell me what to do.”

“I can’t mess with the continuum like this or we can’t undo the Snap,” Darcy said desperately. “My job is to protect Loki!”

“That’s Loki?” Rumlow said. “The baby is Loki? The what?”

“Where’s--” Darcy said realizing she’d left him in the closet. Which was now open. She looked up. The Winter Soldier was holding a baby Loki and smiling. He looked up at Darcy.

“He’s a real cute baby, even if his color ain’t so good, doll,” he said. His smile was incredibly sweet.

“Oh my God, what am I supposed to do?” Darcy said. She looked at Rumlow. “I’m not going to give Bucky back to Pierce for another three years,” she hissed at the STRIKE Commander.

“So, tell me what to do, goddammit,” Rumlow said in a low voice.

“It’s such a long story,” Darcy said in a whine. “Oh my God, you complete dumbass, you don’t even know what you’ve done, messing with events.”

“Never works out in science fiction,” Bucky said, rocking Loki. “You create unintended new events. They could be worse.”

“Exactly! He knows! That’s right, you like science,” Darcy said. “You took Steve to that Stark Expo!”

“They floated a car,” Bucky said, smiling at the memory. Darcy frowned. How was she supposed to tell this sweet-faced man about the Starks? Jesus.

“Oh God,” she repeated, rocking on the couch in horror.

“Well?” Rumlow said. “You’ve started something, you can’t quit now.” He was clearly eager to save his own ass. Darcy looked at him. She sighed. She began with Steve being found. “I worked _against_ Captain America?” Rumlow said, cutting her off when she started talking about the HYDRA Uprising.

“You tried to kill him. Several times. Probably,” Darcy said.

“I had him on my lunchbox when I was a kid,” Rumlow said, stunned. He kept interrupting her and asking questions as she went through all of it: HYDRA, Pierce, the Avengers needing to bust up the bases and that leading to Ultron and the Maximoff kids, and then his attempt to bait Cap leading to his own death, the Sokovia Accords, Wakanda, and Bucky and Steve being fugitives as Thanos built power. The end of the recently-discovered Asgard. Wizards. Spider kids. It took hours to explain it all. “So, you know, if all this HYDRA stuff hadn’t happened and you weren’t in Nigeria to kill those civilians with your dumbass vest, you dumbass, maybe all the Avengers wouldn’t have been too scattered to stop the Infinity Stones from being used to dissolve half the people on Earth and all the other universes,” Darcy finished, glaring at him. She looked at Rumlow and leaned into whisper. “Neither of them make it,” she said quietly, cutting her eyes to where Bucky was rocking and playing with the baby.

“Shit,” Rumlow said. “Shit.”

“Uh-huh,” Darcy said. “You dumbass.”

“Explain Thanos to me again,” Rumlow said. “You’re just here to undo him?”

“Yeah,” Darcy said. “We think it’ll bring back everyone dusted, like Bucky, but if you died before, it’s more...iffy. That’s why I’m trying this with Loki. Maybe it’ll be enough.”

“But even if I live past 2015, I could still be dusted?” Rumlow said. “Shit.”

“There’s no way to know what will happen if you survive until 2018,” she said. When she was finally done, she had a splitting headache and Rumlow looked dazed. She had lived through some really bizarre times. Darcy realized Bucky had gotten Loki a bottle and was feeding him. “Thank you,” she said. He nodded.

“I like kids,” Bucky said.

“All right,” Rumlow said, rousing himself. “I gotta go.” She walked Rumlow to the door. He swore he’d decided to change, but she didn’t really believe him. It was clear that he was his number one priority, in any case. “Tell me about every stone, again,” he said.

“How can I trust you?” she said. She’d been purposefully scant on Infinity Stone details. “You could Snap me yourself.”

“Fine,” he said. “Don’t trust me. I’ll fix my shit my- _fucking-_ self and then I’ll get Thanos, too.”

“Are you crazy or just stupid?” Darcy said.

“I’m going to go protect Cap and take care of HYDRA. I’ll be back for you and Barnes and the baby genocidal maniac,” he said.

“Protect Cap?” Darcy said.

“New strategy, new outcome. Then all of us can figure this shit out.”

 

Rumlow left and she walked back into the living room. Bucky was still playing with Loki. He smiled at her. “Punk turned this color in the winter of ‘twenty-three,” Bucky mused out loud. “Maybe a little less blue?”

“Can I--do you mind if he and I take a nap?” Darcy said. Loki’s crib was next to her bed. She was exhausted.

“Sure,” Bucky said. “Can I tuck him in and have some of your cereal?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Darcy said. Then she remembered something about Bucky. “Fuck. Fuck! Do you have a number for Rumlow?”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, feeling in his pockets. He handed her a card. Darcy called Rumlow. He answered on the first ring.

“Yeah? You change your mind about the stones?” he said.

“No, I need you to get me something. It’s urgent. In Cleveland,” she said, swallowing. She couldn’t let anybody hurt Bucky before they could get him to Wakanda. God, this was stressful as hell.

“Cleveland?” Rumlow said. “What the fuck is in Cleveland?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how cute baby Loki was? So cute!
> 
>  


	3. Where Have You Been

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing! Thanks for all your comments and kudos!

Darcy was torn between anxiety and sweet relief in the days after she sent Rumlow to Cleveland to find the Soviet guy--she wasn’t actually sure of his name or address--and pick up the journal for Bucky. On one hand, every time she thought about Rumlow failing, her heart rate accelerated like she was the Soon-to-Be-Dead-Girl on an episode of CSI. On the other hand, Bucky was a phenomenal baby-sitter and housemate. She had been taking care of Loki 24/7 by herself, so she was tired. She was tired when she woke up, she was tired when she went to buy groceries, she was tired when she bought stuff for Bucky to wear, she was just really freaking tired. So, it took her a few days to figure out why the trash can never seemed to be overflowing, she had an endless supply of clean baby bottles, and she never stepped on toys anymore. Bucky had done it. One night, she woke up, went to get the bottle and stuff that she had pre-washed and readied for Loki’s next feeding to--only to discover it and Loki were gone. In a panic, she ran to the room where Bucky was sleeping to wake him. “Hey,” he said, looking up. He was bottle-feeding Loki on his floor mattress. He had declined a real bed, for some reason.

“Oh thank God,” Darcy said, sinking into the mattress. “I thought he’d floated off with his bottle like the kid in _Ghostbusters 2.”_

“I wonder if I’ve seen that?” Bucky mused. “I used to love movies and that sounds familiar…”

“We could watch it now?” Darcy offered. She was so absurdly grateful for his help with the baby that she could have given him a kidney, frankly. “I’ll take him, if you want,” she offered.

”That’s okay,” he said. “It’s four am, you go back to sleep. I don’t need much rest.” She gaped at him.

“Marry me, Bucky Barnes,” Darcy said, with a kind of feverish intensity. “At least until this baby is fifteen hundred years old again.” The adorable, perfect man had the gall to laugh at her. Darcy barreled ahead anyway. “I know I’m not at my prettiest right now”--this was true, she had a few visible greys that she was too tired to dye brown as usual and dark circles--”but I clean up all right and I’ll buy you a really swell ring with Rumlow’s stolen cash,” she promised him. She and Bucky had never met in her time, but she’d heard he was a charmer. It was checking out.

“Go to sleep, doll, you’re talking crazy,” he said. He chuckled and shook his head. “Fifteen-hundred years old,” he repeated, grinning at her and then down at the baby.

“You’ll never want for anything, sarge. Be the prettiest little house husband on the block,” Darcy vowed. “I like working. Even Jane is easier than a baby and she’s bitten me before.”

“House husband?” Bucky said, raising an eyebrow.

“We have those now. Men can stay home with the kids,” she said.

“Huh,” he said. “What else you got that’s new?” Darcy had heard they unthawed him periodically to murder people, so he was more up on things than Steve, but not by much.

“Internet,” she said.

“Got that,” he said, nodding. “Used it before. I think I got an AOL account for, uh, emails in, uh, 2002?”

“Oh my God, you’re too cute,” Darcy said. “Um, we’ve got all kinds of food--Thai, Korean BBQ, pineapple on pizza--and people will drink anything sweet, so vodka comes in birthday cake flavor now.”

“Huh,” he said. “How does Natalya feel about that?” She’d mentioned Nat and he’d lit up.

“She says it’s for children,” Darcy said. Bucky looked at the baby and then back at Darcy.

“Don’t let her put it in his actual bottle, no matter what she says about Russia, okay? She makes some of that shit up just to scare people,” he said, expression serious.

“Okay, no birthday cake vodka for the baby,” Darcy said. “Oh, oh, we’ve got movies you can watch on your phone, that’s what everyone looks at when they walk now, watch out. Um, what else? Marijuana is legal in several states and gay marriage is legal in all of them in 2015--”

“What?” Bucky interrupted, suddenly alert. “You mean people don’t have to hide anymore?”

“Nope,” Darcy said, some thoughts about Bucky and Steve crystallizing at Bucky’s warm expression. “No hiding, if they don’t want to. In 2019, there will be a married gay man running for president.”

“Shit,” Bucky said. Then he started to laugh. “Shit.” He gazed at Darcy like she was an angel. “Stevie’s coming back and we could get married?” he said.

“Uh-huh,” Darcy said. “Totally.” She yawned.

“You should go back to sleep,” he said to her, with incredible sweetness. She would have hugged him, but he was still nervous about proximity. He didn’t seem as afraid of the baby as he was of her, which was hilarious to Darcy. He treated Loki like a normal baby.

“I will,” she said, standing up and heading towards her bedroom. “But when Cap shows up all pretty and well-rested, don’t forget I asked you to marry me first!” she called back. She heard Bucky’s laughter in response.

 

 

***

A few hours later, Darcy woke up to the sunlight streaming into her bedroom and someone knocking at the back door. When she shuffled towards the door, she heard enthusiastic swearing. “Fucking motherfucker sonofabitch, where are you people?” Rumlow was saying on the  porch. She opened the door. A dirty, bruised, and bloody Rumlow looked back at her.

“What?” Darcy said.

“You need to be more alert,” he scolded.

“We have a baby, it’s difficult,” she said. Over his shoulder, there was a quinjet in the backyard. She stared. “Where did that come from?” she asked.

“I stole it. I’m good at stealing things,” he told her, practically shoving himself inside the house. He slapped down a soggy journal on the kitchen counter. She realized he looked...damp?

“Why are you wet?” she asked.

“Paranoid Soviet motherfucker never got the memo that the Cold War is over. He tried to drown me in a fucking sink,” Rumlow said.

“He snuck up on you?” Darcy said, astounded.

“I let my guard down. I was pretending to do gutter cleaning to get him to open the door. I thought he fell for it. I won’t make that mistake again,” he said grimly. “Next time, I shoot people in the head.”

“I thought you always did that,” Darcy said, peering at the journal. The ink was smudged. He grunted.

“I was trying to do better, Lewis. Work on my goddamn karma. Just mildly maim, not murder. But you can’t work on your karma with these assholes…” he muttered, heading for her couch with the zoned out look particular to the sleep-deprived.

“Hey!” she said, “shower before you sleep on my couch, you’re filthy.” He glared.

“What?” he said.

“Shower. Now,” she said, pointing to her bedroom. Darcy was using her Jane-wrangler voice. He sighed, shoulders deflating, and turned on his heel. She could hear him cussing her as he shuffled into her bathroom and turned on the water. She went to check on Bucky and found him asleep. He’d rolled Loki’s crib in next to his bed and both of them wheezed gently. “Awwww,” she mouthed. She sat down on the bed softly. Bucky’s eyes opened.

“Hey, Darce,” he said.

“Rumlow’s got it,” she told him. “We can destroy it together, if you want?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’d like that. But I gotta get this stuff out of my head, you know?”

“It’s next on my list,” Darcy said. She was secretly hoping Steve would arrive soon. She didn’t actually believe crazy dumbass Rumlow could defeat HYDRA alone. Particularly if he was walking around being all, “know better, do better,” like he was freaking Maya Angelou.

 

When she came back out, she found Rumlow eating food out of the fridge. “Can I crash here for a day or two?” he asked.

“Not in my towel,” Darcy said. He was wrapped in one of them.

“I need clean pants. Does Barnes have clean pants?” he said.

“I’ll get you--” she began, but realized the side of his leg was bleeding. “You’re injured,” she said.

“Eh,” he said. “It’ll close. Serums. Give it a few minutes.”

“While you bleed all over my house?” she said. “Get in the bathroom where the light is good, I’ll get the first aid kit.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. She got the kit and a pair of boxers and sweatpants that she’d bought Bucky and met him in the hall bathroom.

“Here,” she told him, handing them over. To her complete horror, he took the underwear out of her hand and dropped his towel. “Oh my God, what is wrong with you?” Darcy yelled, turning away from all the naked.

“Grow up,” he said. “You’re not a college kid anymore, Lewis. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one penis before mine.”

“Just shut up and I’ll put gauze and tape over that when you’ve got boxers on,” she said sharply.

“I’m good,” he said.

“No, you’re really not,” she said to herself. She wasn’t going to be swayed by his amazing body, he was still a Nazi schmuck at heart. She made him sit on the tiny bathroom counter while she leaned over and taped up his wound. It had closed slightly, but it looked like it would be messy.

“You know, I thought you hadn’t aged at all, but you’ve got grey hairs, kid,” Rumlow said, chuckling. Darcy looked up at him.

“What did you say?” she said.

“You’ve got a little frown line there that young you don’t got, too. You’re getting old,” he said, tapping her forehead with his index finger. That was when she punched him in the groin. “Fuck,” he hissed, holding his crotch. A passing Bucky peered in, carrying Loki.

“What happened?” he said.

“I punched this asshole in the nuts,” Darcy said. “Not full strength.”

“It felt full strength. Does all my work mean nothing to you?” Rumlow said, wincing.

“Don’t pretend like you aren’t doing this just for you. It’s not like you’ve ever had a feeling in your life that wasn’t self-interested,” she told him.

“Hey, you don’t know me, you don’t know my life, bitch,” Rumlow said.

“I know you purposefully insulted me,” she said.

“Did you insult her?” Bucky asked calmly. They looked at each other. Darcy crossed her arms and glared.

“Yeah,” Rumlow admitted.

“I think you should apologize,” Bucky said mildly.

“Or what?” Rumlow said, as Bucky walked away. “Are you threatening me?” he asked Bucky, as Darcy trailed him into the kitchen and took baby Loki.

“No,” Bucky said, “I just think it would be nice if we all got along.”

“Oh,” Rumlow said. He looked at her. “I’m sorry,” he said. It sounded begrudging to Darcy, so she rolled her eyes. “I saw that! Did you see that? She rolled her eyes,” Rumlow said to Bucky. “She’s not participating in good faith in the apology or acknowledging my efforts to change.”

“Nope,” Darcy said. “How long ago did he eat?” She meant Loki, who gurgled and wrapped a tiny fist around her hair. Rumlow snorted as she tried to detach his chubby fist.

“An hour or so,” Bucky said.

“Ow, cut it out,” Darcy told the baby Asgardian,  as Loki tugged her hair again and gurgled.

“Atta boy,” Rumlow said. Darcy glared at him and flipped him the bird. He flipped it back.

“HYDRA sadist,” Darcy said.

“Children,” Bucky said, sighing. Behind his back, Rumlow flipped her off gleefully. Dumbass, Darcy thought.

 

***

They had ordered pizza and were sitting around that night talking about the book and how to destroy it. Darcy thought they should do something to make Bucky feel like it was a meaningful occasion. “What if you shot it?” Rumlow said. “That seems cathartic.”

“Also, like the cops would show, we need a quieter catharsis, like burning,” Darcy said.

“Eh, I could probably build a silencer,” Rumlow said.

“Build one?” she said.

“Plastic drink bottles over the gun,” Bucky added, at Darcy’s quizzical look.

“They’re not foolproof, but they can work if you’re desperate,” Rumlow added.

“Oh my God,” Darcy said.

“Did Natalya not put that in the book?” Bucky said.

“Romanoff?” Rumlow said.

“She made me a book and gave me my guns,” Darcy said. “I should probably put them in a safe now that he can float stuff.” On the floor, Loki was in his baby walker and had his toys levitated a few inches in the air. He giggled at them.

“Forget a safe, Romanoff is gonna be so disappointed in you when she finds out you didn’t shoot me when I showed up here,” Rumlow said.

“How was I supposed to explain a dead federal agent and a blue baby to the cops?” Darcy said. Rumlow grinned. Bucky looked surprised.

“You’re cute, Lewis. Even in your, what, mid-30s? You’re just such an innocent kid,” Rumlow said.

“I don’t get it,” Darcy said.

“There are two chapters devoted to the disposal of bodies,” Bucky said gently.

“She can’t even really shoot somebody, she’s not going to use an electric saw to dismember me and then roll me up in the carpets,” Rumlow told him. “I wish you could have seen her face when she saw me in the living room.”

“Shut up,” Darcy said.

 

They ended up burning the journal in a metal popcorn bowl in the backyard. “Is this really cathartic enough?” Rumlow asked Bucky. Bucky’s gaze never left the journal as it turned to ash.

“Yeah,” Bucky said. “It is.” They sat around the fire and took turns holding Loki, who was golden-pink and grinned in the firelight. Even Rumlow--definitely not a baby guy--held him. Darcy was worried. She was glad she’d destroyed the journal for Bucky’s sake, but anxious about what it might change. “What is it?” Bucky said to her, catching her worrying her lip.

“I’m afraid me changing things will make it worse somehow. Like I’ve ruined our chances. What if everybody dies instead, somehow?” she said.  Rumlow looked up from where he was holding Loki, but it was Bucky who spoke first.

“Doll,” he said gently, “even if I die tomorrow, you’ve saved me from three more years with Pierce. And helped me get rid of that before Zemo gets it,” he said, nodding at the ashes of the journal. “That’s got to save somebody,” Bucky added. “Zemo killed innocent people, right?”

“Yeah,” Darcy said. “I just worry this is  the beginning of things going sideways--”

“You don’t think I can do it,” Rumlow said suddenly. “You think I can’t break HYDRA? I’m the best placed person in the world. I know everybody Pierce talked to, all the agents embedded in SHIELD. I can do this.”

“By yourself?” Darcy said. “I mean, you’re good, okay, I admit that--”

“So, I’ll take him with me,” Rumlow said, looking at Bucky. “We’d only have to be careful he didn’t run into Pierce.”

“That’s true,” Bucky said.

“Two is better than one, but….” Darcy said.

“What?” Bucky prompted.

“I just wish Steve was here,” she said. Rumlow scoffed.

“One guy’s gonna make that much difference?” Rumlow said.

“Yeah,” Darcy and Bucky said in unison.

“He can ride a motorcycle and then throw it at the enemy,” Darcy explained. “It’s pretty incredible. And just jump out of buildings, I mean the footage alone--”

“That’s nothing. I saw him charge a bunch of German tanks once,” Bucky said. “Not even wearing his goddamned helmet.”

“Like a rhino?” Rumlow said.

“Uh-huh,” Bucky said, looking at the fire’s embers. “Exactly like a rhino.” He grinned.

“So, we wait for him,” Rumlow said.

“Bucky,” Darcy said. “I get the feeling that Steve didn’t always like working for SHIELD. How did he like the Army?”

“Oh, I don’t think Punk ever had a boss he didn’t scrap with, even when he was ninety pounds soaking wet,” Bucky said. “One time, he punched a shift manager at the button factory for getting fresh with the girl employees.”

“But he trusted you,” Darcy said. Bucky nodded.

“What are you getting at?” Rumlow said, rocking Loki. “There a point to this?”

“What if we find Captain America and SHIELD never gets their hands on him? Would that change Steve too much?” Darcy said. Rumlow was staring at her openly and Bucky looked surprised.

“I could be the one to find Steve?” Bucky said softly.

“He might be happier, if the first face he saw was you,” she said.

“Fuck Cap’s happiness, Lewis. He can throw a motorcycle at somebody, I want him on my side,” Rumlow said. “We’ve got a quinjet. Let’s fucking go. Where is he?”

 

 

***

It was very cold in the Arctic, so Darcy had bundled herself and Loki up well as they were en route. “You’re doing the right thing, Lewis,” Rumlow said to her suddenly, after he’d explained all the hypothermia protocols. He was piloting the quinjet while Bucky used the tech equipment to try to find the exact spot. Darcy had a general idea. She really wouldn’t have minded a 2019-era Google, though.

“For you, yeah,” Darcy said. “It’s a no-brainer for you. Less of a risk to disturb time when you have so little left.”  He looked at her--one of those half-looks over his shoulder he did all the damn time, like it pained him to turn and face somebody---and frowned.

“How is this not better?” he said. “Barnes is freed, the journal can’t be used to separate the Avengers later, we’re gonna get Cap before he gets all disillusioned, we take Pierce by surprise, HYDRA ends earlier, and maybe Cap never grows that sad beard you keep talking to Barnes about.”

“I say that, but it is a cute beard, really. A cute beard of sadness. Where does Pierce think you are?” she asked. She hadn’t asked before, which was kinda dumb, on reflection.

“Dead,” he said. “I stole a body from a morgue that could be me on rough description and had Barnes make it look like he killed me by smashing my face in during an escape.”

“They won’t run DNA?” Darcy said.

“Nah, Pierce is too busy looking for Barnes and the DNA lab is short on moles. They’ve already told my family I died in a training exercise,” he said.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Darcy said. “You have kids? I didn’t know you were married.”

“God, no. I have a mother and a sister, Lewis. That’s enough damn permanent women in one man’s life. They know I’m alive, I stash my embezzled money in Ma’s garden. I was in the back room when Pierce sent condolences,” he said. He laughed to himself. Darcy sat there, blinking.

“How long have you been embezzling from SHIELD?” she wondered out loud.

“If you only take a little, nobody notices for a long time,” he said cheerfully. “And a lot of our ostensibly broken equipment is easily repaired on the black market and retains significant value.”

“You probably shouldn’t tell Steve that story,” Darcy said.

“What, is the boy scout gonna toss me into the sun? He throws motorcycles,” Rumlow said. Darcy refrained from saying anything about being tossed into ceilings. “You know,” Rumlow began, before he was interrupted.

“I think I see something!” Bucky called out.

 

It took awhile to find Steve in the ice. They spotted the shield first and Rumlow pick-axed it out. “This is badass,” he said, flipping it around and staring in awe. Darcy jiggled a cold-impervious Loki and the baby reached for the shield, gurgling. Loki already liked shiny stuff.

“Tell him to stop trying to levitate my shield,” Rumlow grumbled.

“It’s not yours. Steve needs that,” Darcy said. “Only Wakanda has that metal.”

“I thought they just had goats,” Rumlow said.

“I hope you live long enough to say that stupid shit to T’Challa. Or M’Baku,” Darcy muttered to herself. “Definitely M’Baku.”

“Huh?” Rumlow said, looking up from the shield.

“Nothing,” Darcy said. A few feet away, she heard Bucky swear.

“He’s here,” Bucky said. Even in the dawn light, she could see his stunned, yet joyful expression.  Darcy wanted to stay and help bring up Steve. Unfortunately, they made her trudge back to the plane to wait with Loki.

“You ain’t got juice to survive hypothermia if this ice goes, Lewis, go make yourself some hot cocoa,” Rumlow said.

“He’s right,” Bucky said, more tenderly. “I don’t want you hurt.”

“Okay,” Darcy said.

“And get those foil hypothermia bags ready, honey,” Rumlow called out as she stomped away.

“That’s not your shield and I’m not your honey!” she yelled.

“How do you know? You don’t know the future anymore, kid!” he yelled back. “Things have changed.”

“He is such an asshole,” she muttered to Loki. Unbothered by the cold, Loki waved his tiny, mitten-clad hands in the air and laughed. Darcy looked at him and got weirdly teary. “Oh God, I hope this works,” she said, “because I really love you now and I never loved you before.” She kissed the top of his cap. Even if he was Frost Giant, she’d insisted he wear warm clothes.

Darcy got out three of the hypothermia bags--they looked like man-sized versions of baked potato jackets, she thought, suppressing a weird giggle--and set everything up on stretchers as instructed, so there was warm air circulating in them and in the quinjet. She was pacing back and forth when they finally arrived, wet and dragging an unconscious Steve between them. “The ice went,” Rumlow said bitterly. They stripped out of their clothes and put on the ones she’d retrieved. “Don’t be so damn modest, Lewis,” Rumlow told her, when he caught her looking away. “You’re going to need to pilot us out of here while we get in those bags. I’d like to keep my goddamn toes.”

“Yeah?” she said. Bucky nodded. Teeth-chattering and shaking, they helped her get Steve out of his suit, into the bag and zipped him in. Then they climbed into their own bags.

“He needs to be sealed in for a few hours,” Bucky said to her. “We’ll need less time, but we don’t want to alert anyone.”

  
Darcy sat down at the controls and thought _fuck, I could be responsible for Captain America’s next fatal crash._ “Start the goddamn flight, Lewis,” Rumlow called out. “I’ll talk you through it.”

"Okay," Darcy said. Baby Loki shrieked what she assumed were encouraging sounds. "What's step one?"

  

They were in the air and she was pre-fretting about the landing when she heard a rustling sound from inside the quinjet, then a familiar voice for the second first time: “Buck,” Steve Rogers said slowly, “it’s you. You’re alive.”

“I’m a little worse for wear,” Bucky said. “New arm.”

“Shiny,” Steve said. “What year is it?”

“Well, it’s 2011. Sorta.” Bucky’s voice was wry.

“Where the hell have you been all this damn time?” Steve said.

“Could ask you the same thing, Punk,” Bucky said. Darcy stared at the clouds. Was it her imagination, or did Steve just use _language?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rihanna's "Where Have You Been" from 2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBxt_v0WF6Y


	4. Ain't It Funny?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing! Thanks for your comments and kudos!

Rumlow thought they shouldn't go back to Texas, so they'd packed before they left. They landed the quinjet at a new safe house. It was one of those massive suburban McMansions with three different kinds of facing: fake stone, fake shingles made of vinyl, and regular siding, also vinyl. It made Darcy miss her ratty, yet cozy house in Midland. But apparently, some people approved. “Isn’t this better? Plenty of room,” Rumlow said. ”Good neighborhood.”

“Yeah,” Darcy said, Loki snoozing in her baby bjorn. Steve and Bucky were carefully bringing in all the baby stuff she’d packed before they left Texas. The McMansion had a massive backyard and was in one of those half-finished developments where they were the only ones on the cul de sac. It felt very isolated. She didn’t like that feeling. Even though it was already furnished. 

“You don’t seem happy,” Rumlow said. “You aren’t happy.”

“This is my first time on the lam, I’m a little freaked out,” she said.

“Nuh-uh,” Rumlow said. “You were on the lam in Midland. You don’t like my house. What’s wrong with this house?”

“It looks like it was built on an old Indian burial ground?” Darcy snarked. The empty street was weirdly like something out of a  _ Poltergeist  _ remake.

“I can’t believe your shit,” Rumlow said. “I’m out here, getting ready to break up HYDRA, digging up men at the goddamn Arctic Circle with my hands, trying to change time and shit, and nothing I do is good enough for you.” 

“Excuse me?” Darcy said.

“You’re living in a shitty neighborhood and totally alone. I get you money and a nice house with a big yard for your little blue kid to play in and the world’s deadliest bodyguard and you’re still not happy. It’s new! There’s granite in the kitchen and no lead in the damn paint, woman. I’m over here, providing for you,” he said, breaking off as Cap and Bucky entered. “She don’t like the house. Don’t you think it’s a better house?”

“It’s real nice,” Steve said.

“More room,” Bucky said.

“Have you ever lived anywhere so nice before?” Rumlow asked him.

“That’s cheating, houses weren’t like this in his day,” Darcy said. Bucky chuckled.

“Nope,” Bucky said. “Not when you were as poor as we were.”

“We were so broke, we used to put newspaper in our shoes,” Steve said. 

“See? You should be more grateful,” Rumlow told Darcy. 

“Like someone who grew up during the Great Depression?” Darcy said. “I need to unpack Loki’s stuff.”

“I’ll feed him,” Bucky said. “Can I?”

“Of course,” Darcy said. 

“I get you the deadly bodyguard who wants to babysit,” Rumlow muttered. Darcy shot him a look, then left the kitchen. She carried a box upstairs, Rumlow on her heels. “Let me carry that,” he said.

“Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly, not when you’ve done so much already,” Darcy said sarcastically. She lugged the box into one of the bedrooms, careful not to squish the baby.

“Where are you going?” he said.

“I’m unpacking my stuff,” she said.

“This is my room, that’s your room,” he said, pointing to the master bedroom.

“You’re giving me the biggest room?” Darcy said, surprised.

“The baby sleeps with you,” he said, as if that clarified things. 

“I think you should have that room,” Darcy told him.

“Why? That’s stupid,” he said.

“Don’t call me stupid,” Darcy said.

“That is not what I said. Why are you like this?” Rumlow asked. 

“It’s your safe house,” she said.

“Yeah and I’m putting the crib in that room, all right?” Rumlow said. He carried all her things into that room. They bickered over the crib until Steve actually came to check on them.

“Uh, folks? Everything okay?” Steve asked. Loki had woken up, but gurgled at them cheerfully. The baby waved a hand at Steve and he held a finger out for Loki to grab.

“Yes,” Darcy said. “But we should talk about things.” She expected Steve to do Disappointed Face, but instead, he winked at her as they followed Rumlow out of the room. Why was Captain America winking?

 

While Bucky fed Loki, they set Steve down to explain everything. He and Bucky had shared some quiet moments of talking on the quinjet, but Darcy hadn’t wanted to interrupt and Rumlow apparently hadn’t either.  Mercifully, Steve’s serum-enhancements meant that he picked up things easily. He asked a lot less questions than Rumlow, to Darcy’s surprise. He didn’t seem terribly surprised by the existence of Asgardians or that Howard Stark’s son was a mechanical genius. He only grew sad when Bucky told him--haltingly--that he’d done terrible things under HYDRA’s control.

“We can work on getting you a pardon,” Darcy said.

“You think so, doll? I’m not sure I deserve one,” Bucky said. 

“I took copies of your file,” Rumlow said. “You deserve one.” There was a moment of quiet before Steve prompted them to continue. When they revealed everything about HYDRA, his mouth formed a thin line. 

“HYDRA in Peggy’s agency?” Steve said in a quietly lethal voice.

“They waited until she retired. Even Pierce is terrified of her,” Rumlow said. Steve smiled briefly at that.

“I kinda was, too,” Bucky supplied. “Woman cut me cold. Only time that’s ever happened.”

“I bet so,” Darcy said, winking at Bucky. He smiled at her. He was so adorable, she thought, as he held the baby, expression tender.

“Can we cut out the flirting and get to the secret bases?” Rumlow said grumpily. He handed a tablet to Steve. “The good thing is, if nobody’s found you yet, they aren’t looking for Captain America.” Steve nodded.

“If they find anything, it’ll be an empty plane,” Steve said. Darcy’s heart sped up and she felt all oddly weepy again.

“What?” Rumlow said, seeing the change in her expression.

“I--I just,” she stuttered, “do you know what this changes? This changes everything. We have Captain America and  _ they don’t even know.”  _

“Won’t know what hit ‘em,” Bucky said, grinning as Loki made a grab for his hair.

“We’ll start tomorrow. I’ll memorize these tonight,” Steve said seriously. Darcy did all her unpacking and then came back downstairs as Steve studied and Bucky sat next to him with Loki. They looked good together, she thought. They kept exchanging glances and murmurs that blended humor and tenderness. Darcy had spent enough time with Bucky to catch the flickers of awe on the ex-Winter Soldier’s face whenever he looked--really looked--at Steve. 

 

She was making coffee when Rumlow stepped into the kitchen.  “I’ll leave Barnes with you and the baby,” he said stiffly. “Unless we need everybody, I want someone to be with you.” Then he relaxed and grinned. “You know, in case something tries to suck you through the tv, Carol Ann,” he told her.

“Okay,” Darcy said, determined not to rise to his bait. “Coffee?”

“Are you being nice to me? You sick or something?” Rumlow said teasingly.

“I hope this works,” Darcy told him seriously.

“It’ll work,” Rumlow said. “I didn’t become STRIKE Commander and live through the serum trials because I’m laid back, Lewis. I made it through because I’m hard to stop.” Darcy nodded and poured a mug of coffee. It had the ring of braggadocio, but she wasn’t going to start bickering with him again, she vowed. It was a waste of time. Time. How the hell was she impacting time right now? They stood together awkwardly for a moment; Darcy’s mind was preoccupied with hoping that Jane and everyone she loved made it out okay when she realized Rumlow was watching her. She couldn’t read his expression.

“How were you recruited into HYDRA?” she asked quietly.

“Pierce is good at telling you what you want to hear. They look for people with experience they need who are disillusioned with the normal methods--”

“Normal methods?” Darcy said.

“In my case, it was naval regs and protocols. I was a SEAL. They move you to an administrative role once you hit a certain age, tell you that you’re too old for field work. I didn’t feel old,” he said wryly. “I liked jumping out of planes. So, I went looking for another job, Pierce found me and offered me the chance to really do shit about terrorism. Forget the usual paperwork and hoops and getting clearance to do shit. SHIELD gave me the best equipment and utilized my abilities. I loved my work. Then Pierce circled around again, wondering if I wanted to go farther, if I wouldn’t try a hush-hush research thing--the serum trials,” he said. He sighed. “It was supposed to keep me young. Everything’s a test, Lewis. Pierce sees if you’re willing to A, then moves to B. Just a little nudge…”

“They nudge you into saying  _ Hail, HYDRA?” _ Darcy said archly. He laughed and shook his head.

“The first time I heard that, it was at a party. A bunch of the STRIKE teams get word that we’re invited to a party, some sort kinky thing--”

“Ew,” Darcy cut in.

“Look, I was curious, okay? I wanted to see what it was like,” he said. “We get there and it’s a bunch of old guys in leather chanting to a portrait of Schmidt--” he said.

“That sounds like an old white guy thing,” Darcy said. “Super creepy. How many senators?” He furrowed his brow.

“Five. Wait, six. Stern was there, too. I need to add that to Cap’s list,” Rumlow said.

“Got it,” Steve called from the living room.

“His hearing’s really good,” Darcy said, at Rumlow’s surprised look. “What did you do then?” Darcy asked.

“Uh, I threw up in the bathroom, downed most of a quart of scotch, and convinced one of the waitresses to go outside and fuck me in the yard,” he said. 

“It never occurred to you to, I dunno, call somebody?” she said in frustration. 

“Who?” he said, scoffing.

“The cops? Homeland Security? The freaking President?” Darcy supplied.

“They would have had me killed,” he said, shrugging. “This isn’t your happy idealistic world with Foster and the other professors, Lewis. Nobody had a safe space to go to or a Dean to make a report to--we kept our heads down to stay alive and hoped we chose the right side.”

“That,” Darcy said, “is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” She left the kitchen and took Loki upstairs for a bath. Bucky made a sad face. “Have fun with Steve,” she told him, smiling. Rumlow was waiting at the foot of the stairs for her.

“I’ll have you know, the guy you just smiled at has killed way more people than me,” he said bluntly. “Why are you giving me such a damn hard time?”

“He didn’t choose that, you did--” Darcy said, the argument continuing as they went upstairs.

 

***

“What you think that’s about, Buck?” Steve asked wryly, looking up from the list of HYDRA bases in Nebraska.

“I was thinking you and me, summer of ‘thirty-eight,” Bucky said. “You were as irritable as a wet cat.”

“You were spending all your time with Betty Sullivan. A man gets jealous, is all. I felt neglected,” Steve said. “I barely saw you.”

“A flat out lie,” Bucky said. “We were living together.”

“It was how I felt,” Steve said stubbornly.

“You were a terrible kisser up until that summer. All hands and no technique,” Bucky mused. “So shy, I could never get you to settle long enough to actually teach you how to kiss. It was like being kissed by a German battalion. You mowed me over and ran.”

“I used to hide and have asthma attacks,” Steve said. 

“All of a sudden, you improved. I always meant to ask--” Bucky said.

“I lied and told the librarian I need a book on kissing to get a girl,” Steve said. “Miss Eunice took pity on me.”

“Miss Eunice with the glasses?” 

“Yeah.”

“Pshaw. Miss Eunice knew what we were about,” Bucky said.

“She did not,” Steve said.

“Did too. One, you cannot lie. Two, Miss Eunice lived with the other librarian. They’d lived together for fifteen years,” Bucky said. “Context clues, Mr. Tactical Genius.”

“Uh-huh. You know,” Steve said, “it’s been a long time since I’ve kissed anybody.”

 

***

“What is that noise?” Darcy said, looking up from where she was trying to get a wiggling Loki into his pajamas. They’d just heard a whoop and the sound of Barnes and Cap running upstairs, then that sound. The initial  _ thump  _ continued rhythmically.

“I believe that is the sound of a veteran’s reunion, Lewis,” Rumlow said.

“Ohhhhhhh,” Darcy said. 

“Involving a bed. That’s the headboard.”

“I got it,” Darcy said. 

“I can’t believe Captain America is gay. That wasn’t on my lunchbox,” Rumlow said.

“Bi,” Darcy said.  “Didn’t you hear him talking about missing that date with Peggy?”

“What?” Rumlow said.

“He’s bisexual, obviously. So’s Bucky. Stop it with your bi-erasure,” Darcy said.

“What are you talking about?” Rumlow said.

“You are so old,” Darcy said.

“I’m younger than them!” he said defensively.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm enjoying digging up old tracks as chapter titles for this one: Jennifer Lopez! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr-H8dR0HLo


	5. Disturbia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing! Thanks for all y'all's comments and kudos! I've decided that if we've got a multiverse now, that Jerry, Bruce's Scottish lab assistant from "Orchid Fatale," is here to help out our Jane while the Avengers are Avenging.

Steve and Rumlow were supposed to be gone for six days, raiding their first HYDRA bases. Darcy watched them leave. Then she got all twitchy and anxious. First, she ate snacks compulsively. Bucky grinned at her. Then she taught him about the in-fridge icemaker. “Whoa,” he said.

“Cool, right?” she said.

“Did you just make a pun, honey?” he said, snorting. “Steve’ll be sad he missed it. He loves corny jokes.”

“Hey!” Darcy said, offended.

“Get him to tell you about the time he shot a Nazi in his pajamas,” he said.

“He did?”

“Don’t know how the Nazi got in Punk’s pajamas,” Bucky said.

“Probably cause you got him out of them,” Darcy said slyly. Bucky laughed so hard he cried. They watched movies and tried to stay calm. Next, she started to pace around the house. She looped around the open-plan rooms like a Grandma power-walking at the mall. Sometimes, she strapped Loki to her chest in the bjorn, but he picked up on her moods and started making all the light fixtures swing and go on and off.

“He doing that?” Bucky asked.

“I knew we shouldn’t have let him watch _Poltergeist!”_ Darcy said. “I swear, he has higher than average knowingness for a baby.”

“Knowingness?” Bucky said. Loki gurgled happily.

“Sneaky skills,” Darcy said. Above them, the chandelier swung and flickered.

“Nah,” Bucky said. “He’s a good fella. C’mere, baby. I won’t let Aunt Darce be mean to ya.” Loki waved his arms and squealed.

 

She was making circles in the living room on the fifth day when Bucky looked up at her. “You gonna wear a path in that carpet, doll?” he asked, grinning. He’d told her that back in his day, wall-to-wall carpet was considered incredibly luxurious. He was full of stories like that: how bananas tasted better, there weren’t seatbeats, you knew a girl’s daddy would give you the side eye if your shoes were scuffed.

“Ughhhh, this is horrible! How are you so calm?” she asked him.

“I’ve seen Steve,” Bucky said, grinning.

“But what about Rumlow?” Darcy said. “He’s not Steve. He’s just serum-regular.”

“You worried about him?” Bucky asked, eyes lighting up. Darcy harrumphed at him.

“No, like that, Bucky. Give me back my blue mischief child,” she said. He was feeding Loki.

“Nope,” Bucky said. “He cries when you’re anxious.”

“Ughhhh!” Darcy yelled, plopping down on the couch. “Fricking 2011. Fricking Thanos. Fricking everything.”

“Uh-huh,” Bucky said.

“It’s too stressful. I’m going to go gray faster if I stay here,” she mumbled. Bucky looked incredibly smug. Darcy stuck out her tongue at him. “That--that right there is the face you made that made Peggy Carter shoot you down!”

“That right?” he said, grinning. “I always thought it was because my hair was prettier than hers.” His voice was deapan. Intellectually, Darcy knew he was trying to make her laugh, but she lost it anyway. For the next twenty four hours, he cheered her up by tossing his hair whenever she looked at him.

“Oh em gee, Breck Girl Bucky,” she muttered to herself.

  


It was three am when the quinjet landed and she hurried out to meet them. She, Bucky, and Loki were asleep in the living room so they’d know as soon as the quinjet arrived. Darcy practically landed on a grinning Steve. “You all right, Darce?” he asked.

“Oh my God, you’re not hurt,” she said, thrilled. “We were so worried!”

“Yeah, he’s not hurt, I am,” Rumlow grumbled, descending the ramp after Steve.

“Oh no!” Darcy said. “Where is it?”

“Stop fussing at me, Lewis, I’ll heal,” Rumlow said. They bickered until Steve sighed.

“Folks, shouldn’t we go inside?” he suggested.

“Thank you, Steve,” Darcy said. They walked into the house.

“Steve,” Bucky said warmly. Darcy’s running outside had woken him. His voice was like honey, so sweet and tender that it gave Darcy a little vicarious thrill. She shivered. Rumlow snorted.

“Calm down, woman, he didn’t do the sexy voice for you,” he teased in a low voice.

“Be quiet,” Darcy hissed. “This is historic. That’s Steve’s speech face.”

“Huh,” Rumlow said.

“We’ve started it,” Steve said to Bucky. “We’re changing the future. We’re stopping HYDRA again….”

“I want to see it,” she told Rumlow in a whisper. She meant his mystery wound.

“I know you do,” he said archly.

“Stop being a child,” she sassed him. “What are you, twelve?”

“What are you, twelve?” Rumlow mimicked.

“Why don’t you let her check out your injuries?” Bucky suggested, holding a metal hand up to halt Steve’s moving remarks.

“We’re trying to have a romantic moment here,” Steve said.

“Oh,” Rumlow said. “Sorry, Cap.”

 

“How did it go?” Darcy asked him, as they headed for the bathroom.

“He’s fucking incredible,” Rumlow said. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.” He shook his head. “Jumped right out of the plane, took out fifty HYDRA alone. No parachute.”

“Yep,” Darcy said. “That’s Cap.”

“What the fuck was I thinking in the future?” Rumlow said. “I don’t get it. Do you know?”

“I dunno, I barely knew you,” she said. “You were on TV a lot, maybe that was it.”

“TV?” he said. “So, I was famous?”

“Yeah, famous crazy. You were Charlie Manson famous, don’t look so smug,” Darcy told him.

“Women still wanna marry him, though,” Rumlow said.

“Ew, ew,” Darcy said.

  
  


***

 

In Jane’s 2019 lab, a siren went off. “Oh, shit,” Jane said, scrambling to a keyboard.

“What is it?” one of the lab assistants said to her. He was a Scotsman named Jerry. She’d borrowed him from Bruce’s lab while the Avengers went their ways.

“I set up an alarm to alert me of major shifts in time around Darcy’s arrival dates,” Jane said. “Now Steve’s Wikipedia article is--”

“Is fucking _melting?”_ Jerry said. “Shite, Jane. The bottom half is all blurry hieroglyphs. What’s happening?” She began to read the section under _Captain America’s Rediscovery_ out loud.

 

_“Captain America was recovered by a two man team consisting of freed Winter Soldier James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes [121] and HYDRA turncoat and ex-STRIKE Alpha Commander Brock Rumlow [135]. Following Captain Rogers’ recovery, he and Cmdr.[title disputed] Rumlow proceeded to launch surprise attacks on HYDRA bases, utilizing information gleaned by Rumlow. Within several weeks…..”_

 

“Where’s the rest of it?” Jerry said. The text went all fuzzy.

“I don’t know,” Jane said. “Jerry, things are changing.”

“Oh, Christ. We’ve fucked time. We’re fucked,” Jerry said.

“What if _Darcy_ changed time?” Jane offered.

“That bloody trollop,” Jerry said. “But if she’s mucking about with the timeline, where the hell is she? Shouldn’t she be in here?”

“Who edited this?” Jane asked. She checked the article notes. The name meant nothing to her, but it was someone who’d edited articles on multiple superheroes.

“Could he be messing around?” Jerry said.

“We could wait, see what else changes,” Jane said. “See if these are stable or a fluke?” Jerry nodded.

“But where’s Darcy?” Jerry wondered.

“Just like a fanboy, editing the women out,” Jane said bitterly.

“Didn’t you tell her not to mess with anything?” Jerry said. Jane shrugged.

“Sometimes, things happen when you don’t mean them to,” Jane said.

“I’ve heard that before. When you’ve portaled yourself right into the bogs, eh?” Jerry said. “I can’t believe that little tart is messing around with Captain America’s timeline. Think she’s finally got herself a man?”

“She does like to watch Steve when he swims in Tony’s pool,” Jane said.

“You left her alone with the cookies, you did,” Jerry said. “Who’s this Rumlow now?”

“Crossbones,” Jane said, pulling up an another article. She got a 404 screen. “What?” she said. “He was a terrorist! Really bad burn scars?” she told Jerry.

“Put in his name like normal,” Jerry suggested. Rumlow’s unscarred face appeared in Google Images. In multiple photographs, he was with people they knew: Steve, Nat, Fury. “Well,” Jerry said. “Not bad to look at either.”

“But he was HYDRA!” Jane said.

  


***

“Stop wiggling,” Dary told Rumlow.

“Your hands are shaking,” he grumbled.

“I get nervous with these good Wakandan steri-strips. I don’t want to drop them, I only have so many,” Darcy explained.

“Nothing to do with where you’re putting them?” he said wryly.

“You could have told me someone stabbed you in the upper thigh,” she said. He'd taken off his boxers and had a towel draped across his groin.

“It’s really more of a graze,” he said.

“You could also do this yourself,” she added.

“I could, but then I wouldn’t get to see your face when you said you wanted to see it and I dropped my drawers,” he said, chucking.

“Was your father a subway flasher by any chance?” she asked archly. He grinned back at her.

“Lewis, inhibitions are for people with sexually unattractive bodies,” he said. “When you look this good, nobody minds.”

“Oh God, I’d slap you, but every exhibitionist I’ve ever met was a gym rat, including the women,” she said, processing out loud.

“How many women?” he asked, eyes lighting up.

“Put your clothes on, I’m checking on my baby Smurf,” she said, turning to leave. She was in the hall when he called out.

“My old man was a plumber!” he said.

“So he did flash his ass at people,” she said, then descended the stairs to the sound of his laughter.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember this song? I looooove it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmGjajXDHKo


End file.
